Environmental Philosophy
Ned Hettinger, Fall 2011

Syllabus

Schedule of Assignments

Spring 2012 Philosophy Courses

Environmental Ethics Bibliography
Environmental Studies Minor CofC
Masters Environmental Studies CofC
Office of Sustainability CofC
Goldsworthy Site

Paper Assignment & Topics
Suggestions for Writing your Philosophy Paper
Help with article search

Date
Reading Notes
Readings for Class
Miscellaneous
Tues, Dec 13, 8am: Final Exam
   
Tuesday, Dec 6th, 3pm (hard copy, 14 Glebe, 1st floor inside mailbox)
Papers on Aesthetics & Nature due
AESTHETICS AND NATURE
 

Thursday, Dec 1
(last day of class)

Parsons, Ch 9
Parsons, Ch 9: Art in Nature (128-140)
Note: Skipping Ch 8
 
Tuesday Nov 29
Parsons, Ch 7
Parsons, Ch 7: Aesthetics and the Preservation of Nature (95-113)
Climate and having children
International Climate Change Meeting this week
Tues, Nov 22
Parsons, Ch 6
Parsons, Ch 6: Nature and the Disembodied Aesthetic (81-94)
 
Friday, Nov 18, 3pm, hard copy to 14 Glebe 1st floor inside mailbox
Paper due (unless on Nature Aesthetics)
   
Thurs, Nov 17
Parsons, Ch 5
 
Parsons, Ch 5: Pluralism (66-80)

(Free quiz opportunities)
Both Thursday, Nov 17

Deborah Cramer, "The Sea Around You: What Does the Health of the Sea Have to Do with Us?"

Wes Jackson
Can Agriculture be Sustainable?

Tues, Nov 15
Parsons, Ch 4
Parsons, Ch 4: Science and Nature Aesthetics (49-65)
 
Thurs, Nov 10:
Parsons, Ch. 3
Parsons, Ch 3: Formalism (34-48)

 

Dirt: The Movie
(Monday Nov 14th)

 


Tues, Nov 8:
Parsons, Chapter Two
Parsons, Ch 2: Imagination, Belief, and the Aesthetics of Nature (18-33)

Ty Raterman, Bearing the Weight of the World: On the Extent of an Individual's Environmental Responsibility

Dark Side of "Green" City NYT

Thurs, Nov 3:
Parsons, Introduction & Chapter One
Glenn Parsons, Aesthetics and Nature (Continuum, 2008) (hereafter “Parsons”), Ch 1: Approaching the Philosophy of Natural Beauty (1-17)
   
ANTHROPOCENTRISM, NONANTHROPOCENTRISM, CONVERGENCE?
 
Tues, Nov 1:
Jamieson, Climate Change, Responsibility, and Justice
Dale Jamieson, “Climate Change, Responsibility, and Justice,” Science and Engineering Ethics (2010) 16: 431–445
Articles about: How Harmful Are Individuals Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Friday, Oct 28

Paper Proposal Due
Email to hettingern@cofc.edu
 
Thur, Oct 27
Goldsworthy on human nature relationship
In Class Video: Andy Goldsworthy, Rivers and Tides
Video link: Rivers and Tides
Tues, Oct 25
Palmer, Does Nature Matter?
Clare Palmer, “Does Nature Matter? The Place of the Nonhuman in the Ethics of Climate Change,” in Denis Arnold, ed., The Ethics of Global Climate Change (Cambridge 2011), pp. 272-291
Articles about climate change denial
Thurs, Oct 20
McShane, Anthropocentrism vs Nonanthropocentrism: Why Care?
Katie McShane, “Anthropocentrism vs Nonanthopocentrism: Why Should we Care?” Environmental Values 2007, pp 169-185

Free Quiz opportunity,
"Feeling Stone"
Thurs Oct 20, 7pm Arnold Hall

Fall Break  
 
Oct 13
Rolston, Converging vs Reconstituting
Holmes Rolston, “Converging versus Reconstituting Environmental Ethics” in Nature in Common, pp. 97-117
 
Oct 11
Minteer, Nature in Common
Ben Minteer, Introduction to Nature in Common? pp. 1-13,
 
ETHICS & CLIMATE CHANGE
 
Oct 6: Midterm Exam
Midterm Study Questions (Complete)
   
Oct 4
Sandler, The Problem of Inconsequentialism
Ron Sandler, “Ethical Theory and the Problem of Inconsequentilism: Why Environmental Ethicists Should be Virtue-Oriented Ethicists"
Do Individual Acts Help Save the Planet?
Sept 29
Sinnott-Armstrong, Not My Fault
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, “It’s Not My Fault,”in Gardner, pp. 332-346.  
Going Green but Getting Nowhere
Sept 22, 27
Gardner, Geoengineering the Lesser Evil?
Stephen Gardner, “Is ‘Arming the Future’ with Geoengineering Really the Lesser Evil?: Some Doubts about the Ethics of Intentionally Manipulating the Climate System” in Gardner, pp. 284-312 


David Keith, "Should we Engineer the Planet?" (video)

Sept 20
Singer, "One Atmosphere"
Peter Singer “One Atmosphere,” in Gardner, pp. 181-199
Arctic Ice Hits Near Record Low
Sept 15
Caney, Climate Chage & Hunan Rights
Simon Caney, “Climate Change, Human Rights, and Moral Thresholds,” in Gardner, pp. 163-177
Presidential Candidate Views on Climate Change
Sept 13
Shue, Deadly Delays
Henry Shue, “Deadly Delays, Saving Opportunities: Creating a More Dangerous World?” in Gardner, pp. 146-162.
Slow Stirrings Among Conservatives on
Adaptation -- Just Don't Mention
Climate Change
Sept 8
Parfit, The Identity Problem
Derek Parfit, “Energy Policy and the Further Future: The Identity Problem,” in Gardner, pp. 112-121

Arrested to protest climate change

National Climate Seminar

Who is the World's Biggest Polluter?

Lomborg's website
Lomborg reverses course

Sept 6
 
No new reading; finish the Gardner reading below.

Bike Friendly Charleston Events (Wed/Thurs, Sept 7-8)

About Mia Birk (cycling advocate)
(Birk's Wed 5:30 CofC talk is a free quiz opportunity)

Sept 1
Gardner, Ethics & Climate Change
 
Stephen Gardner, “Ethics and Global Climate Change" in Stephen Gardiner, Simon Caney, Dale Jamieson, & Henry Shue, Climate Ethics: Essential Readings (Oxford, 2010) (hereafter, “Gardner”), pp. 3-35
Some climate change facts
 
ENVIRONMENTAL VIRTUE ETHICS
 
August 30
Hursthouse, Env Virtue Ethics
Rosalind Hursthouse, “Environmental Virtue Ethics”
 
August 25
Cafaro, Toward Env Virtue Ethics
Philip Cafaro, "Thoreau, Leopold, and Carson: Toward an Environmental Virtue Ethics"
 
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
     
Critical Questions